Crime Reports | The Press and Standard

Car burns as driver flees
A vehicle search turned into a police chase and then into a vehicle fire the evening of Dec. 26.
Walterboro police pulled over a vehicle to search for drugs on Dec. 26 at about 11:30 p.m. and were in the process of having the three occupants exit the vehicle when the backseat passenger climbed into the driver’s seat and took off.
The resulting chase headed west on Bells Highway with speeds reaching 100 miles per hour.
When the fleeing car reached the I-95 interchange, it began emitting gray smoke. The driver kept going, attempting to turn from Bells Highway onto Evergreen Lane. On Evergreen Lane, the driver lost control of the vehicle, went off the roadway and came to rest against the fence at Delk’s Towing Service.
The driver jumped out of the car and took off running; the front seat passenger stayed put.
The officer who had been chasing the vehicle had the passenger exit the vehicle and placed him in the rear of his cruiser.
As the officer checked the area for the fleeing driver and was preparing to search the vehicle, he noticed a small fire under the engine compartment. Colleton County Fire-Rescue was called to handle the fire and the South Carolina Highway Patrol was notified to handle the wreck.
While waiting for firefighters to arrive, the fire grew. The front of the car was ablaze and the flames spread to several trees.
Once the fire was out and the wreck investigated, city police were able to resume their search of the vehicle. The only thing they found was a cell phone they suspect belonged to the fleeing man.
The original driver and the front seat passenger were released. The fleeing driver is expected to face charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer and failure to stop for blue lights.

Car hit by bullets
A Colleton County Sheriff’s Office deputy was sent to a residence on Mable T. Willis Boulevard Dec. 31 at 8:13 p.m. after a man discovered he had been a target.
The man explained that he was driving on Dorsey Street near Kimbrell Street when he heard what he believed to be exploding firecrackers.
When he arrived at his girl friend’s residence, he found two bullet holes in his driver’s side door, one near the side mirror and one near the bottom of the door.

Fight draws police
City police were dispatched to Druid Hills 2 at 189 Beach Road Dec. 27 a 6:44 p.m. to investigate a fight. The caller reported approximately 20 people involved in the altercation and approximately four shots had been fired.
Officers arrived to find that everyone possibly involved had disappeared and those still in the area could offer no information on the fight or the shooting.
They did find a car with its windows damaged by bullets and a total of six spent shell casings on the ground.

Equipment taken from business
An employee of Liquid Transport Trucking Corp. at 5105 Sniders Highway called the sheriff’s office Dec. 26 at about 8 a.m. to report a theft. Someone had entered a locked gated area and taken items from work vehicles. Gone were a cable locator worth $2,500, a ditchwitch worth $4,500 and a $15 wrench.

Johns Island man robbed
A Johns Island man told police that after coming to Walterboro to visit a female acquaintance on Dec. 22, he was robbed by the woman’s cousins.
The man said he was on Facebook Dec. 21 when he suggested coming to Walterboro to spend some time with the Walterboro woman. She agreed and they made arrangements to meet at Druid Hills 2.
He arrived shortly before noon and the woman asked if he would give her cousins a ride.
When the vehicle arrived on Singleton Street, the woman said she needed to use the restroom and exited the car.
Then the cousins reportedly assaulted him, hitting him several times in the face with their hands and a firearm before taking his wallet, keys and cell phone.
The victim said he ran down the road and met a man who called police for him.

Drug charges follow traffic stop
Members of the Waterboro Police Department were dispatched to a service station by reports of an altercation with one of the people involved armed with a firearm.
Police were told that the suspects in the incident were attempting to leave the business.
An officer spotted a pickup truck matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle turning from Upchurch Lane onto Bells Highway and attempted a traffic stop. The truck pulled over on Bells Highway near Jones Swamp Road. The officer claimed to smell marijuana and had the truck’s four occupants exit the vehicle.
A search reportedly found a pouch in the glove compartment. Inside the pouch, the officer reportedly found seven plastic bags containing a powder-crystal substance, two glass pipes, a mirror, a straw and cotton swabs.
A field test of one of the bags reported showed a positive result for methamphetamine.
Tuesday Michelle Wilson of Walterboro allegedly claimed ownership of the pouch and was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

New Year’s gunfire
Members of the Walterboro Police Department were dispatched to the 300 block of Blanchard Street Jan. 1 at 5:42 a.m. to investigate a shots-fired call.
The female resident told police that she and her children had been asleep when the shots were fired.
Multiple rounds had hit the woman’s home and officers found 14 spent shell casings in the street.